Spirit of Enderby Breaks the Record of The World Cruise Ship

The record of The World cruise ship of furthest south is already broken. A few weeks ago ms The World claimed a new record for most southerly navigation, reaching 78° 43”. 997S in Bay of Whales.

On Sunday, February 26, the New Zealand operated ice-strengthened expedition ship Spirit of Enderby pushed through over 30 miles of ice to better the record by reaching 78° 44”.008S.

The Bay of Whales is a rarely visited historic site in the Ross Sea. It was in the Bay Whales that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen built his base ‘Framheim’ and raced the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott to the South Geographic Pole in the summer of 1911/12.

His base ‘Framheim’ and subsequent bases built by the Americans in the Bay of Whales have all disappeared as the Ross Ice Shelf has retreated. The Spirit of Enderby was under the command of Captain Dmitry Zinchenko, one of the most experienced Ross Sea Captains ever, having made over 40 expeditions to the region since the 1980s. The Spirit of Enderby is operated by Christchurch NZ-based company Heritage Expeditions.